


Here Comes Your Man

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: M/M, Post-Series, Weddings, well only just one but it is a big one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 19:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14984147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: The days leading up to the wedding of Garazeb Orrelios, the shedding nightmare of Lasan, and his weird fleshy thing Alexsandr Kallus.





	Here Comes Your Man

**Author's Note:**

> This is the story I submitted to the Kalluzeb fanzine that came out recently, now available in the right reading structure as it was printed incorrectly there.

“You look good like this,” Zeb whispers to him on second the anniversary of their coming to Lira San, and Kallus laughs.

His hair has grown long enough that he’s started to loop his ponytail on hot days, to keep it off his neck. He hasn’t put on weight, though the softness of his belly makes him feel like he has. This is the body of a man in his early 50s that no longer lives on ration bars, existential dread, and the barest glimmers of hope. The body of a man who could sleep in past dawn, and stopped trying to keep up with soldiers half his age. But the war was over, peace was reigning, and if he wasn’t careful, dinner was going to burn in the pan.

“Thank you,” he replied, reaching up to scratch the base of Zeb’s ear. “You’re not so bad yourself.” With a soft nip to Kallus’ wrist, he went to retrieve their plates from the cupboard. 

Lira San is full of trees and curious faces. They’d been told that the town they’d chosen to settle in was small and out of the way, yet new people turned up like clockwork to meet the child of Lasan and his strange, furless mate. The children in particular, who’d never even imagined that life could exist outside of their world, flocked to them in droves. 

They lived with a simple domesticity that neither could have imagined a decade prior, and reveled in it.

“I received word from Sabine, finally.” Zeb said as they tucked into their food. “She’ll most likely need an escort in, since she won’t be coming on the Ghost with Hera and the others, but she’ll be here.”

Sabine and Ahsoka’s mission to find Ezra was going…poorly. They kept hitting dead end after dead end, and news of their lack of progress had made Kallus’ fingers itch. Uncovering real leads in a pile of false ones had always been his specialty and while he wanted to help, he  _didn’t_  want to leave their home behind for a journey that could take years to complete. Still, to finally have her RSVP was a relief. He was fond of the girl, and their marriage ceremony would have been missing a key component without her.

“We can send Sandiira up, she owes me more than a few favors. Is Chava still laying eggs over the ah, break in tradition?” Zeb snorted, accidentally blowing the food off his fork and back onto his plate.

“We’re disrespecting my ancestors, her ancestors, all of Lasan, and the Ashla.” He deadpanned, the effect ruined by his sunny smile. “She’ll still be here, of course. Wouldn’t miss it for the galaxy, sends her love to you, blah blah blah.”

They’d decided to eschew the wedding ceremonies of their respective homeworlds in favor of the one of Lira San for several reasons. For one, Zeb had never  _been_  to a wedding while Lasan still lived, so he was a bit fuzzy on the details and convinced that half the ‘facts’ Chava gave him were made up. Coruscanti weddings were frivolous, extravagant affairs, and Kallus had no desire to attempt to replicate one. The ceremonies on Lira San varied by region, but all tended to be small, with an official that recorded their names into the towns’ marriage census text, and usually less than fifty guests. Short and simple. Though there was another part of the ceremony, which was apparently unique to the smaller towns in the area; the matrimonial mark. A small tattoo, inked into the inner wrist of each partner, that formed a whole image when viewed side by side.

Sabine’s call couldn’t have come at a better time.

As they cleaned up the kitchen, Kallus’ mind wandered. Sabine was a wonderful young woman, and he trusted her completely…but he wasn’t entirely sure he’d like whatever she came up with for their mark. The Mandalorian aesthetic was built heavily on tradition, and looking to the past to inform and influence the present was  _not_  something he wanted. The past was best left where it lay.

Kallus was startled out of his thoughts by an arm around his waist, and sharp teeth at his throat. He laughed out loud, pushing at Zeb’s forehead as the larger being let out a playful growl and latched on tighter.

“You’re thinking too loudly.” He said, muffled against his mate’s skin. “Let me help you stop.” With a sigh, Kallus melted against him, letting Zeb scoop him up and carry him to bed. Had they been on Coruscant, especially this close to their wedding day, they’d have been completely isolated from each other. As was tradition.

Another point in Lira San’s favor.

***

The days passed quickly, the house slowly filling up with offworld guests. Hera, Jacen, and Rex were first to arrive in the Ghost, along with Chopper and AP-5. If Kallus had thought that the Lasat were intrigued by his pale skin and short hair, it was  _nothing_  compared to the way they reacted to Hera.

“Is this gonna be a problem?” She asked, referring to the dozen or so children and teens that had followed them back to their home after he and Zeb had shown their friends around town. Zeb shrugged, scruffing a couple of the smaller kids.

“Nah. If nothing else, you can toss most of ‘em pretty far if they bother you.” He demonstrated by throwing one child in the air, then catching her as he threw the other at Kallus. Both children shrieked with glee and Hera sighed.

“ _Please_  tell me you never did that with Jacen.” She said weakly, and Zeb exchanged glances with the boy. “You know what? Never mind.”

Though their home was large enough to comfortably house everyone, Rex and the droids chose to bunk in the Ghost that evening. After Jacen was put to bed, the remaining three stayed up late into the night, catching up and drinking copious amounts of local wine. It had been three years since Endor, and two since they’d had a face to face conversation.

“So, Wedge never  _did_  say why he couldn’t make it.” Zeb mentioned offhandedly, and Hera giggled into her drink. “What?”

“He’s going to be a bit preoccupied for the next month.” She replied cryptically, and Kallus nudged her arm. “Okay, okay! He got married! It was a completely secret thing, next to no guests, now they’re going off the grid for some proper alone time before Luke-”

“Skywalker?!” Zeb and Kallus said in unison, and her giggles intensified.

“ _Yes_ , Skywalker. Wedge wants him all to himself for a little while. He’s going to be starting a proper Jedi academy soon, within the next year. Jacen is going to be one of his first students.” The pride in her voice was tinged with sadness. Almost a decade had passed since Kanan’s death, and it was clear that Hera still missed him deeply.

They switched subjects after that, talking about the goings-on in town for a while before the subject of the actual wedding came up.

“It’s in three days.” Kallus groaned, forehead hitting the table with a resounding  _thunk_. “I didn’t think I’d be nervous, but there’s always that part of me that assumes that every good thing in my life is going to be ruined by some  _stupid_  thing I did in the past.”

“Hey now, the only stupid thing you’ve been doing for the past nine years is me.” Zeb interjected, and Kallus flopped a hand uselessly in his direction.

“Don’t, don’t do that, putting yourself down like that. You’re brilliant, love.” Kallus then patted Zeb’s thigh beneath the table and as a grand finale, fell asleep. Zeb and Hera exchanged a look.

“We tell no one about this.” He said seriously, and she nodded, throwing back the rest of her wine.

“Agreed.”

***

Sabine arrived the morning of the wedding on a ship of completely unknown origin with Ketsu and Ahsoka in tow. Her hair was colored the same shade as Zeb’s stripes, which her escort seemed completely enamored with. Kallus laughed to himself.

 _Get in line, kid_.

“Sandiira!” He called, and the teen’s head shot up. “Your mother called to tell you not to come home, she’s on her way with your clothing.”

Zeb had helped transport Sandiira and her family to Lira San years earlier, and while the girl had been less than friendly to him at first, Kallus now considered her to be part of his family. Her mother, Talsi, had been the one to help him fully learn the language of the Lasat people. She would also be officiating their wedding.

After hurriedly greeting everyone, Sabine beckoned Zeb and Kallus to follow her back to her ship. While the outside hadn’t been much to look at, the inside was covered, floor to ceiling, with portraits and symbols. 

“Okay, I know this thing takes place in a few hours and I’m  _really_  cutting it close, but I  _know_  you’re gonna like what I came up with.”

Kallus had been expecting her to pull out a sketchpad of designs, or maybe point to some of the symbols she’d drawn on her walls. Instead, she pulled out a single sheet of flimsiplast and held it out for them to inspect.

“ _Oh_.” Kallus said quietly, eyes darting between the flimsi, Sabine, and Zeb.

The mark she’d come up with for them was a pair of bo rifles, crossed over the symbol of the Rebellion. It was simplistic, almost too obvious, even. But it was them. It was theirs.

“I like it.” He whispered, and Sabine beamed.

That was the last thing they’d needed. This was really happening.

***

Zeb opted to get ready on the Ghost. It felt right to be back in his old bunk after all this time, putting on a reproduction of his old Honor Guard uniform that Chava had made him.

The ceremony was set to take place at dusk, while the reception was to last until dawn. It symbolized the end of their separate lives, and the start of their shared one. Zeb had laughed when Talsi had explained it to him. He and Kallus had shared a destiny  _long_  before they’d decided that they were in love.

Deeming himself ready enough, Zeb went to collect his mate. He found Kallus in their kitchen, dressed in a loose white shirt and purple vest. Chava’s handiwork could be found all over him, from the flowers in his hair to the subtle stripes she’d drawn on his neck. He was shaking.

“Alex?” Zeb called in alarm, but didn’t rush over. Kallus looked up.

“What if this changes everything?” He asked, hands clenching around the back of his chair. The chair he had sat in for every meal since they came to this world. His chair, in their kitchen, in their home, which they’d built from the ground up.

“Then it changes everything.” Zeb replied firmly. “And we roll with those changes, and our life only gets better.” Those seemed to be the magic words, because Kallus instantly relaxed.

“Our life.” He repeated, the corners of his mouth lifting. “The same life we’ve been sharing all this time.” Kallus let go of the chair, walking to where Zeb was waiting by the door to their backyard. He was fully smiling, now.

And that was him, his man. His mate. His Alex.

The shadows were growing long. The sun was setting.

“They’re waiting for us.” Zeb said, holding out his hand. There was an embarrassing little bald patch on his forearm, where Sabine had needed to shave him in order to draw his half of their symbol. When Kallus reached out to take it, he saw the same flash of ink.

“So I suppose that means it’s too late to elope?” Kallus asked innocently, and Zeb huffed out a laugh.

“’Fraid so. You ready?” Zeb opened the door, and all their friends and family turned to look.

“No,” Kallus said honestly. “But I know you’ll be there to catch me if I stumble.”

And he would be. Always.


End file.
